Women’s basketball: Gophers freshmen have big goals
For Gophers women’s basketball fans who might be struggling to get excited for next season — and, let’s face it, it would be hard to blame them — the freshman class has you covered.
The four players in coach Lindsay Whalen’s freshman class come highly rated, for sure, but their message after the first day of summer practices on Monday was the biggest breath of fresh air after a disappointing season that never seemed to end.
The Gophers finished under .500 for the second straight year, 15-18 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten, had their starting point guard quit in January and then watched an additional five players enter the NCAA transfer portal — including leading scorer Sara Scalia (Indiana) and leading rebounder Kadi Sissoko (Southern Cal).
The team that convened for their first practice on Monday included nine newcomers, the four freshmen plus five transfers. Of the three players returning — forward Rose Micheaux, off guard Maggie Czinano and Katie Borowicz — only Micheaux really played last season, 30 games with 16 starts. Borowicz missed the entire season because of a non-basketball injury, and Czinano was limited to nine games by illness and vision problems.
So, expectations for the 2022-23 season are understandably low.
But on Monday, freshmen Amaya Battle, Mara Braun, Mallory Heyer and Nia Holloway — collectively ranked as high as No. 10 in 2022-23 recruiting classes — ended their first college practice by breathing some energy into the program, looking ahead and vowing to be the class that, in Battle’s words, “really changed the culture of Minnesota women’s basketball.”
“I expect our class to be the one that gets the good players in Minnesota to stay home,” said Battle, a 5-foot-11 point guard who helped lead Hopkins to the Class 4A state championship this spring.
Watching players such as Scalia, Sissoko and point guard Jasmine Powell (Tennessee) leave rather than join them next season “just motivated us a lot,” said Heyer, a 6-1 forward. “It opened up a lot of opportunities, and I think we’re just excited to get to work.”
Heyer, who led Chaska to the 2021 Class 4A title, was the first of the group to commit to Whalen. Battle was the last.
“The hope is we’ll do well this year and prove that Minnesota can build a great culture here, keep future players in state,” said Braun, a 6-foot point guard from Wayzata. “That’s kind of the goal for all of us.”
Also joining the team on Monday were transfers Destinee Oberg, a 6-3 post from Burnsville who spent three seasons at Arkansas; guard Mi’Cole Cayton, who played at Cal and Nebraska; guard Isabelle Gradwell from Cleveland State; and Angelina Hammond, a 6-foot wing from Hopkins who played for Siena and joins the team as a preferred walk-on.
Aminita Zie, a 6-1 center from Paris via Western Nebraska Community College, did not practice Monday because she had just arrived on campus.
“A lot of new faces,” said Whalen, who enters her fifth season at her alma mater still looking for her first winning conference record and NCAA tournament berth.
She’ll be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 10 because in every other stop in her career — from her time at Minnesota (Final Four), with the Minnesota Lynx (WNBA championships) and the U.S. Olympic basketball team (gold medals) — she has come out on top.
“There’s a lot of opportunity, there’s a lot to prove, and that includes me — a lot to prove, as a coach,” she said. “I’m excited for the opportunity, for the chance.”
After Monday’s practice, the first time many of the players had even met, a half dozen spoke up during Whalen’s traditional circle. The players are eager to turn the page with their coach.
As for the players who chose to leave, Battle said, “All four of us, every time someone left, it was like, hey, that’s more of an opportunity for us to put our name out there and really reset the culture. It’s sad to see them go, but in the end, it’s our turn. This is our team now.”
